So, I'm currently in CBT and my therapist wants me to start using positive self talk that we've practiced in the office in crowded places like malls. Malls freak me out the most. I'm ok if I pass a person of the opposite sex, but if there's 2 or more together, I fear they will start judging me and talking about me with each other and it just makes me really nervous. And since it's a mall there are lots and lots of groups of people everywhere, so it's like there's never a break. I went two days ago and I lasted like 5 minutes, I'm planning on going back Monday, but it's sure tough to walk around a mall by yourself surrounded by groups of people. Do you guys struggle with this as well?

I used to walk alone in the mall by myself back in high school a lot. It wasn't so bad because I used to do it often. Now it would be a little tougher because I don't really go to the mall at all. If you go with a friend you should be fine but i guess that's not part of your recovery/therapy.

Malls are just a mess. I don't really have SA unless I have to try something on, or shop for foundation garments/haberdashery. Other than that, I am okay.

You should pretend you are in the mall, with a shopping bag. Some creep tried to grab you in a wide open space. You scream "don't take my newly purchased brassiere, you pervert!", and then swat him with your bag.

millenniumman75
You are a success story waiting to happen!
Live and let live VACUUMS more than a Hoover....
Live and HELP live is better!

I really hate malls. I always go by myself, just because I don't like going shopping with other people, but when i go I am miserable. I always go out to malls in different cities so I don't run into anyone I know, ESPECIALLY if I'm shopping for clothes!

I avoid crowded places like the plague. We don't have much of a mall here so I hardly never go there except to get my hair cut, but he is at a lonely corner of the mall. I do hate going to the Super Walmart here. I only go there early in the morning. I would never go there on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Even when it isn't crowded I don't like spending a lot of time there. I now pretty know where everything is on the grocery side. I quickly go to where everything I need, grab it, and get the heck out of there. I do have to go tomorrow. I would of went today, but they are having the Fireman's Tournament over in Houghton and I avoided that town like the Plague. Luckily it is over today and it will be dead tomorrow morning.

troll: man, we got a lot of snow
yooper: eh?
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troll: you like excessive punctuation, don't you?

Only time I really get nervous/aggravated at the mall is when it's 10x busier than normal, like at around Christmas time...it's like those people are all hermits all year long until late November/early December and then EVERYONE comes out!
Otherwise I just usually avoid people(especially those people at the boots in the middle of the aisles--those people are annoying!! I just ignore them & don't look at them), look down/don't look at anyone really, go where ever it is I'm going, look at whatever I want, buy whatever I want, etc.... doesn't really bother me on an average day at the mall, I actually like it a lot.

Malls, this was something that I discussed almost immediately with my new therapist. I find out that at least for me it is all the commotion and activity around me that sets me off into anxiety. I get tunnel vision and numb-floating feeling. She advised me to walk in and walk straight through and then out the other door, 5 minutes tops. She asked me to concentrate on, say, my big toe or my arms swinging to center myself and stay grounded. Or to concenterate on finding a specific color and steer my attention to paying attention to that when I am anxious. I still have problems, but I breathe and try to center myself.

I avoid the mall like the plague unless I really need to get something from there. And even then, I'll make my sister come with me. My anxiety is non-existant if I'm there with someone so I'm not standing around alone like a loner.

I usually never see anyone I know. Probably mainly because of how far I live from the mall... Actually there have been a few times where people who know me have seen me, though... one of my online friends used to work at the store next to Hot Topic so I saw him there a few times and that was ok. I didn't mind him at all, we never got to talk much when I saw him at the mall(the last time I seen him was after I got married and he came up & talked to me and I was sorta afraid my husband would see him & get mad because he is like that...though it's just fine for him to talk to any girl[s] he wants to! Luckily he was off with his friend and I was in Hot Topic with my best friend, though so he never saw this guy & I never told him about it) but I wish he still lived in that town & worked at the mall actually...he moved back to his old town recently.
Then there was a guy I sort of dated for awhile, hadn't seen in awhile... and he was kinda annoying, but one day he saw me and my mom at the mall so then he followed us around until we left.
And there was a guy who worked in a store called Cosmic and he would always recognize me & talk to me when I went in the store but I really liked him. He was funny and nice, but then they moved him to another store, in a different town, so I haven't seen him in forever Most of the other people who work there are ok(they had a rude girl there once who threw my change back at me though, stupid ***** but otherwise, most of their workers are alright) but there has never been & never will be anyone like Daniel there. I wish he still worked there. Some other guys from Cosmic recognize me from myspace once in awhile too...
There was a girl I saw in Hot Topic also who knew me from online...actually mainly I talked to her "cousin" and I say it like that because I sort of think her cousin is a fake... no one ever sees her out in public and I know a guy she used to "date" online but she never would agree to meet him which seems very odd-- he even offered to come all the way to her town or even her house just to see her and she said "NO" and made all kinds of excuses for him not to come every time he mentioned it...I personally think it's the girl I saw/met who uses fake pics just to get all kinds of attention and stuff, but who knows.....
And I've seen a few other people I know too, but not too often.